Our Hero Academia: Chapter 10.5
VOL10.5OHA.png The Confrontation The sky was lit up a brilliant shade of orange, as the street lights and lamp posts began to light up across the sidewalks, giving some manner of light to the dark corners as the sun began to set. Running back home for a change of clothes, Jirou switched out of his school clothes, putting on something more light and comfortable to move in, some loose fitting clothing given the circumstances he was going to be involved with before the day was done. Grabbing his phone and wallet, Jirou dashed out the door, quickly glancing at his phone to check the time. By the time he had reached the school gate, it was around 6:00 P.M., arriving right on time for his "date" for the evening. Waiting around the corner, Jirou began to pace in place, as he wasn't entirely sure where Aiko wanted to go, with the only bit of information he had being a junk yard somewhere around here. "Well, glad to know you stuck to our date it seems. And definitely right on time, it would have been rude to keep a girl waiting." Aiko's voice said from out of Jirou's vision. Aiko was already waiting accompanied by Midori, dressed her usual attire of a red sweater and a black skirt. It was cold tonight but Aiko figured that the upcoming fight would be enough to keep her warm. Midori was dressed in her own casual outfit, baggy clothes with her hoodie worn over her head and the collar masking the lower part of her face. Aiko smiled as she saw Jirou, after the battle trials, this would surely give her the most effective test trial for her quirk. And what better way to try it than against one of the most destructive students in her class. It was not surprise that Aiko arrived with Midori not too far behind her, ever since school started, the two were inseparable to his eyes, and to him, would be a welcomed occasion, a decent buffer for the two of them to break the tension a little. "I'm a man of principal, one of the decent traits I have, give or take," he said with a shrugged, quickly peering over to exchange glances with Midori before quickly turning away. Looking over from a variety of directions, he took note that no one from their class was nearby, obviously out doing karaoke from what Zenji had suggested tonight, leaving only himself and the two ladies to do as they pleased for the evening. With the cold air wisping by them, Jirou tuck his hands into his pockets, turning to look at Aiko for directions. "Well we're here, point ahead. I'll play follow the leader till we get there." Turning her head to Midori, Aiko nodded, giving Midori a signal to lead on. Although it was a place that Aiko knew well enough, it seemed as though she didn't know the route just as well to get there. Midori silently followed and began walking in one direction, in turn causing Aiko to follow who beckoned to Jirou. Aiko placed a finger over her mouth to express the need for silence, as the plan for their little outing was something that could get them in huge trouble, not just with the school but possibly even with the police. As they walked along the street, Aiko looked at Jirou to see if there was anything notable about her opponent for the evening, seeing if there were any weak points that weren't all too obvious. Following them step-by-step, Jirou kept an eye out on anyone following them or any peering eyes that might catch their attention, with the only eyes in this instances glancing at him were coming from Aiko. Squinting his eyes suspicion as to why, Jirou felt his back tense up a little, ''Is there something on my face? ''he thought. During their sneaking, he couldn't help but find it ironic that they were going to all this trouble to what would essentially be them breaking the rules in secret, something that was humorous to him given what had happened these last two days at school. "I hope you know where your going, cause your sense of direction troubles me," he whispered with some manner of skepticism. It was apparent that Aiko's analysis wasn't very discreet, but she didn't mind it anyway. "Midori knows where she's going. She's taking a shortcut that goes through a hidden route away from the karaoke place the class are going to tonight. Right Midori?" Aiko happily explained, turning with a smile to her friend. Midori responded, though not with the same enthusiasm as Aiko, "Yeah. Sure. Well, its not going to take us away from where they're going. Just hope they don't look up when they are there." Midori warned. "Ah well. Hope you don't mind a bit of jumping and climbing then I suppose." Aiko giggled as she turned to look at Jirou from the corner of her eye. "Yea yea, jumping and climbing is fine, just never figured you for the type though." With a few grunts, Jirou was leaping against the wall of a building, climbing against the rain gutter to get to the top, moving unelegantly in comparison to Midori who by contrast was doing so with cat-like reflexes. However, with all the climbing and running they were doing, Jirou couldn't help but wonder what Aiko was doing here. Aside from accepting his challenge, of all the things she could be doing, she was indulging him for reasons that were clueless to him. The vaguest idea he could come up with was either to prove their ranks wrong or maybe she REALLY disliked him on some level, much like most people he knew. "To be fair, I actually don't know what to think. Here your are going through the trouble, of duking it out with me when you could be singing your heart out at some fancy joint across town," he said while sprinting. "You're are pulling a 180 across my head here, and all I can think is 'what the hell?'" Aiko smiled and laughed at Jirou's remark, "Honestly, I'm not really one for singing. To be frank with you, I'm partly doing this for Midori, as you can tell doesn't really enjoy the company of the other students in our class. I would rather be fighting than playing around, because then I'd actually get something out of it. In a way, I guess you could say I'm training for the upcoming Sports Festival", she explained as she kept up with Jirou's pace. For someone as delicate as her, she has shown incredible speed and flexibility as she ran and climbed her way with the group. "We're nearly there, just make sure you aren't seen by the other students." Midori softly called out as they were approaching the area that had the karaoke bar Class 2-A were enjoying. Leaping onto a ladder that reached the top of one of the buildings, Midori stopped and beckoned to Jirou and Aiko to follow, before proceeding to climb up the ladder and towards the roof of the building. The building itself wasn't too far from the karaoke bar, and the route was ever so clear in the moonlight. It was a hop, a skip and a large jump over the aligned building tops laid out. And on the other side was the junkyard that Aiko and Jirou's fight was set. "You sure she isn't just shy?" he said jokingly, "they always say its the quiet ones you should look out for. Midori, please tell me your shy." Jumping down from the roof and unto a lower space bellow it, Jirou stopped for a brief moment to notice that the restaurant Ryuji mentioned in class was just a block a way, having a clear view from where they were standing high up above. Quickly running parallel to the street's direction from building-to-building, Jirou peered out to see what were some figures waiting outside, and upon closer look, he could make out some of the figures being comprised of their classmates. Leaning down for a quick snoop, it was evident that it was Tali, Zenji, Kinzoku, and Miranda, obviously waiting for the rest to show up. Returning back to his original pace, he took a brief moment to capture the moment before ultimately sprinting back to the duo ahead of him, wondering what some of their other classmates were up to tonight. Aiko and Midori seemed to keep an equal pace between the two, jumping at the same time over the open gaps and alleyways. Their movements were in sync, typical for two friends who have trained together for a long period of time. Although Aiko was showing some level of trouble, Midori endured through the whole process without a sweat. They were more focused on getting there whilst seemingly not caring about the others down below, however their speed proved to solve that problem. Coming closer to Midori and nudging her with her elbow, Aiko flicked her head back to Jirou to get Midori to see. Midori only smiled as she saw that Jirou was somewhere behind due to his attention being momentarily brought somewhere else. It wasn't too far from the junkyard from where they were, as Aiko and Midori both looked at each other as they approached the last building on the block. Waiting for Jirou to get closer, Aiko and Midori leaped down from the edge of the last building and landed on the concrete ground without a problem, Midori landing gently on her own two feet and catching Aiko in her arms, who had jumped a second late. The two of them looked up at the edge to see where Jirou currently was, with Aiko still being held up by Midori in her arms. With his attention momentarily off drawn elsewhere, Jirou couldn't spot where the two of them had gone, frantically looking from his sides as he tossed and turned his head to a number of directions without so much as slowing down his pace. Leaping from building to building without looking straight ahead, Jirou overshot his jump at the last moment, tripping against the edge and falling into the alley in-between the the last building and the one behind it. With the only thing to break his fall being two trash bins, falling chest-first before slamming his back against a parked car at the side, causing the alarm to blare off across the alley, with several dogs barking at the noise before running to the sidewalk. At the end of the escapade, Jirou quickly took note of of the pair waiting for him along the ground, noticing Aiko in Midori's arms. Dusting himself off along his arms and pants, Jirou could notice a wide open space ahead of them, with numerous automobiles and scrap piled high above, with refuse spread out inside a fenced-up yard, noting that they were close to their destination. "Um Midori. You can put me down now." Aiko smiled. Without hesitation, Midori immediately dropped Aiko onto the ground and walked towards the nearby junkyard to prepare for the fight. Aiko quickly jumped up and dusted herself off, looking to Jirou and flicking her head to Midori, beckoning him once again to follow. Jogging towards Midori, Aiko caught up with her friend to give her own swift punch to the side of Midori's arm, only for Midori to casually evade it by moving out of the fist's way. ---- As the three of them arrived at the scene, it would appear that they weren't the first or only ones to arrive as a familiar student could be seen lying on the hood of a rusty Ferrari 250 GTO, his presence being highlighted by the flickering light coming from the lamppost above him. With one hand on his stomach and the other behind his head, Jack opened one of his eyes to see where the others were coming from, exhaling some smoke from his lungs that was evidently the cause of the cigarette in his other hand. Despite their attempts at being stealthy, the delinquents were already making enough of a ruckus for Jack to hear and faintly see them from his current position. "Yo, took you guys long enough." He responded as the hand on his stomach was raised and started waving at them a few times, taking the opportunity to take a few puffs from the small roll of tobacco, before returning to its more comfortable posture. "I figured I'd swing by to check things out... Don't mind me though, this ain't my fight so I won't interfere." "Oi lamppost. It's a no smoking zone." Midori called out, her voice muffled a bit due to the collar that was in front of her mouth. In turn, Midori pulled out a small plastic vial filled with green liquid inside, gripping it in her hand as she walked towards Jack. Aiko turned to face Jirou with an excited look on her face, "Alright. Just let me get ready and we can start our fight. I don't want to ruin these clothes because my parents will kill me if I come back in rags." As he exhaled the smoke from his body yet again, Jack actually made the effort of opening both eyes and looking at the ones playing royalty. “Don't talk to me about breaking rules here, you're the ones that's going to be duking it out.” The young student responded before looking over to the direction of Jirou Stealth Ops’ landing, “You’re really living up to your title pal.” They had just arrived but already it felt evident that they would get caught by someone tonight for all of the ruckus. "Like I need to take tips from the guy lying on top of the Ferrari. You know only douches wear sunglasses at night right." Dumbfounded at the sudden turn of events, Jirou was surprised to see Jack here of all places, especially when they took the extra measure of sneaking their way here from the get-go. While Aiko was changing, Jirou in the meantime was taking off his jacket and shirt, exposing only a white tanktop and black pants, placing his clothes directly atop of bent stop sign across from him. "If your're here about what I said, you'll have to wait your turn princess." Grabbing what appeared to be a broken bicycle wheel, Jirou gripped it to the point of contorting it, beginning to glow a white hue before lunging it above the lamp post, bending it consequentially to the point of tilting and falling near Jack's position, shattering glass all over the floor. Doing several stretches and squats, Jirou was pumped, psyching himself out for the fight. Crossing his arms, he turned to look over at Aiko, "Whenever your ready." Having returned to the others in her new getup, Aiko's fighting costume was eerily similar to her hero outfit. It was practically the same except just fully black to blend in with the darkness. Aiko stretched her arms outward in order to prepare, doing all sorts of stretching exercises before turning to Jirou. "Alright then. Ladies first?" She asked, extending an open palm to Jirou. What may have seemed as the comment was for her, she was intending it for Jirou, either way, she wouldn't mind landing the first hit. Lifting his arms up, he moved his hands above his face, facing Aiko at eye's length, all the while Jirou taking on a boxing posture, lowering his body down below her level in order to downplay the height difference between them, mostly since they were the same in stature. Letting go several jabs into the air, each of them picked up some wind as he tossed them in front of him, they served as means to warm himself up. Using his Quirk along the base of his shoes, Jirou jettisoned him forward, sprinting forward before alternating directions with multiple side-steps, leaning in from the right with a heavy right hook while keeping his other hand in reserve, using the momentum to thrust it harder. Refraining from using his Quirk, Jirou wanted to play her out in order to get a feel for her abilities before getting serious.